Euro 2008: My Team Of The Tournament And Other Awards.

Wow, that was fun. The best tournament since World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000. When national teams’ football seemed to be on a downfall here came Euro 2008 and reistalled the love for international tournaments. Great winner, great games, great emotions and great stories. And, of course, great blogging on World Cup Blog page. Have a look at my awards for the tournament.

It was an icredible month. I watched all the games except of those played simultaneously and Russia vs Greece (I promised my girlfriend to go to a party with her). Most of them, I watched on fresh air with other fans, which I totally recommend (cheers to all supporting on Plac Wolnosci in Poznan). Even though Poland did badly, Euro will be a great memory for me. The level was high, the teams played offensively and, in the end, the good guys won. There were dark horse stories (Russia, Turkey), big nations disappointing (France) and individual players both impressing (Villa, Arshavin) and those failing to justify their hype (you’ll never be considered a legend Ronaldo). International football is on the rise once again.

My team of the tournament:

GK: Iker Casillas (Spain)
DL: Yuri Zhirkov (Russia)
DR: Hamit Altintop (Turkey)
DC: Carles Puyol (Spain)
DC: Carlos Marchena (Spain)
DMC: Marcos Senna (Spain)
MC: Xavi (Spain)
MC: Wesley Sneijder (Holland)
AM: Lukas Podolski (Germany)
AM: Andrei Arshavin (Russia)
ST: David Villa (Spain)

Substitutes:
GK: Edvin van der Sar (Holland), Artur Boruc (Poland)
DEF: Georgio Chellini (Italy), Gio van Bronckhorst (Holland), Vredran Corluka (Croatia)
MID: Sergey Semak (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Arda Turan (Turkey), Deco (Portugal)
ATT: Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain)

Awards, Teams:

Best team: Spain
Worst team: Greece
Biggest surprise: Russia
Biggest disappointment: France; for me Poland as well
Most entertaining: Turkey
Most boring: Greece
Best match: Russia vs Holland
Worst match: France vs Romania
Most thrilling moment: apart from Poland games, penalties in Spain vs Italy match
Luckiest team: Germany
Unluckiest team: Switzerland
Best team performance: Russia against Holland
Worst team performance: Poland in the first 30 minutes against Austria

Individual awards:

MVP: Marcos Senna (Spain)
Biggest surprise: Andrei Arshavin (Russia)
Biggest disappointment: Karim Benzema (France), Luca Toni (Italy), Ronaldo (Portugal)
Most entertaining player to watch: Andrei Arshavin (Russia), David Villa (Spain), Arda Turan (Turkey), Deco (Portugal)
Best individual performance: Andrei Arshavin vs Holland
Worst individual performance: Mariusz Jop (Poland) vs Austria

This is how I saw the Euros; a great feast that should satisfy any fan’s hunger before the club season. As for this blog; even though Euros are over I’ll continue to write about the Polish national team. I’ll comment on Leo’s choices, players’ tranfers and performances, maybe even on the Polish league. Squad Watch will return and I’ll keep an eye on young Polish talents for you. Generally, every piece of news that I find interesting will end up on this site. I want to thank all the readers for an active participation and comments and I hope that we’ll exchange opinions in the future. Even if you only wanted to learn about Poland because of the Euros, stay with us as supporting Poland is a life-long experience. I definetely plan to cheer the guys in the World Cup qualifiers and I’m prepared for as much joy as heartbreak. Polska, Biało Czerwoni!!!!!